The (v)recognized target group
Gender Marketing: The future belongs to those who understand women—including in marketing. After all, «the customer is female,» and apparently still feels neglected.
Gender marketing The future belongs to those who understand women - also in marketing. Because "the customer is female" and apparently still feels neglected.men are different. And so are women. We have known this not only since John Gray's 1992 guidebook of the same name. Allan and Barbara Pease also made it all too easy for themselves by ironizing stereotypical gender roles in their bestselling "Schenkelklopfer" (NZZ): I know women who are perfect parkers and men who are good listeners. Nevertheless, these American popular psychologists have not only made a lot of money with their books, but have also - and this is the good thing about it - sensitized one or the other to gender-specific differences in perception and behaviour.
Significant purchasing potential
Marketing strategists haven't just been thinking about this tricky, highly emotional topic since yesterday. Nevertheless, they have advertised their products as if there was only one type of person. They have forgotten or suppressed the fact that in addition to the so-called heads of household, there is another core target group that has plenty of money and is happy to spend it. In the US, women own half of all private wealth, control four trillion dollars of annual consumer spending and buy two out of three cars. And in the average heterosexual relationship, they are responsible for eighty percent of all purchasing decisions.
"Women buy differently, men too" is the simple idea behind the beautiful fashion term gender marketing. Women like long window shopping trips and make impulsive decisions, whereas men shop quickly and purposefully; women want to be addressed emotionally, men rationally; women want to be advised empathetically, men soberly and objectively. In a nutshell: women and men move through the same consumer world in completely different ways. And they need to be approached and addressed differently by product developers, marketing managers and advertisers. But how?
Bosch, for example, has developed a cordless screwdriver that is not exclusively, but primarily, geared towards female needs. The Ixo is easy to use, has a slim handle, doesn't weigh much and comes in a kind of cookie tin instead of the usual plastic case. This also makes it suitable as a gift, for example for a wedding or Mother's Day. The handy appliance is also the first Bosch product to bear a name. This also earns it popularity points with women.
Advertisers are incomprehensible to women
Diana Jaffé, management consultant and author of "The customer is female", is also impressed by this new Bosch design and communication line. For her, products that are developed and marketed with specific female needs in mind are better products. For both women and men. However, successful campaigns for such products are still in short supply because - according to Jaffé - many advertisers have no idea about women's lives. Commercial messages have to be free of clichés in order to be received at all, let alone have the desired effect. The campaign with which Volkswagen launched the Touareg in Germany, for example, shows that this can work and how: a delicate woman and a tough man enjoy driving through rough terrain in equal measure.
In her first book, Jaffé gets to the heart of why it is (also) worthwhile for companies to read women's every wish from their eyes. She convincingly shows where the weak points are and how they can be eliminated. The book is written in an easily understandable way and is clearly structured. Although the idea behind it is not new, the volume is recommended as a source of inspiration thanks to a wealth of good and bad examples.
An illustrative lesson in gender marketing: women like long window shopping trips and make impulsive purchasing decisions.
> The customer is female by Diana Jaffé. Econ Verlag, Berlin 2005. 260 pages, 44 francs.
Roger Hausmann
Significant purchasing potential
Marketing strategists haven't just been thinking about this tricky, highly emotional topic since yesterday. Nevertheless, they have advertised their products as if there was only one type of person. They have forgotten or suppressed the fact that in addition to the so-called heads of household, there is another core target group that has plenty of money and is happy to spend it. In the US, women own half of all private wealth, control four trillion dollars of annual consumer spending and buy two out of three cars. And in the average heterosexual relationship, they are responsible for eighty percent of all purchasing decisions.
"Women buy differently, men too" is the simple idea behind the beautiful fashion term gender marketing. Women like long window shopping trips and make impulsive decisions, whereas men shop quickly and purposefully; women want to be addressed emotionally, men rationally; women want to be advised empathetically, men soberly and objectively. In a nutshell: women and men move through the same consumer world in completely different ways. And they need to be approached and addressed differently by product developers, marketing managers and advertisers. But how?
Bosch, for example, has developed a cordless screwdriver that is not exclusively, but primarily, geared towards female needs. The Ixo is easy to use, has a slim handle, doesn't weigh much and comes in a kind of cookie tin instead of the usual plastic case. This also makes it suitable as a gift, for example for a wedding or Mother's Day. The handy appliance is also the first Bosch product to bear a name. This also earns it popularity points with women.
Advertisers are incomprehensible to women
Diana Jaffé, management consultant and author of "The customer is female", is also impressed by this new Bosch design and communication line. For her, products that are developed and marketed with specific female needs in mind are better products. For both women and men. However, successful campaigns for such products are still in short supply because - according to Jaffé - many advertisers have no idea about women's lives. Commercial messages have to be free of clichés in order to be received at all, let alone have the desired effect. The campaign with which Volkswagen launched the Touareg in Germany, for example, shows that this can work and how: a delicate woman and a tough man enjoy driving through rough terrain in equal measure.
In her first book, Jaffé gets to the heart of why it is (also) worthwhile for companies to read women's every wish from their eyes. She convincingly shows where the weak points are and how they can be eliminated. The book is written in an easily understandable way and is clearly structured. Although the idea behind it is not new, the volume is recommended as a source of inspiration thanks to a wealth of good and bad examples.
An illustrative lesson in gender marketing: women like long window shopping trips and make impulsive purchasing decisions.
> The customer is female by Diana Jaffé. Econ Verlag, Berlin 2005. 260 pages, 44 francs.
Roger Hausmann
